Germany is the home of many legendary power-metal bands such as
Helloween,
Blind Guardian and many others, Germany also has a good selection of thrash-metal bands, such as
Kreator and
Sodom. But then I found two other bands,
Tankard and
Assassin (still thrash though). I thought ‘’assasssin’’ was a cool band name so I started to search for the band but my luck failed me more than once, after several months I was listening to a band called
Invocator from Denmark and they played a cover from
Assassin, I was hooked big time after that cover. I managed to hunt down the album with the song that was covered and I was pleased actually,
Assassin was not one of those high-class perfection thrash bands that you might expect, but this is definitely Germany’s answer to America’s
Nuclear Assault in my opinion.
Assassin is a funny sounding band, they play quite technical speed/thrash which is very entertaining and very ‘’headbangable’’. This band really delivers high-voltage thrash like
Nuclear Assault, except that these guys has a bit catchier, more thrash based material and less hardcore influences. They were formed in 1983 but they have only three full-length albums and one live album but there is a reason why, they were disbanded for a time but they reunited and they released their latest album called
The Club.
Interstellar Experience was better than I could imagine, there were very few songs that I didn’t enjoy, it was from this album I’ve heard the cover that
Invocator did, that song was
Abstract War, a catchy ‘’classic’’ thrash song with a heavy structure and crunchy riffing.
Assassin never really impressed the people with their raw, quite generic but still energetic thrash, maybe it was because that there were already thrash bands that could deliver a more varied and a more well-executed tpye of thrash-metal which was more influencing.
Kreator was definitely one of those bands, they simply raised the bar for the country’s thrash bands and poor
Assassin just couldn’t jump over that bar,
Assassin worked more as a opening band for the bigger bands.
Assassin still shows you that they can take on some fast and skilled guitar solos, catchy and technical guitar work and varied drumming. Either way, this album has a good variety among the songs, we got
Abstract War,
A.G.D and
Junk Food, they might not be highlights but these are the songs that I think has some of the best riffs and tempos, easy digested songs in other words.
Pipeline is one of two instrumental songs, this one is even a cover, I know that I have heard this song being played somewhere else but I can’t remember though, it is the shortest track and less ‘’complicated song’’ but it still has a catchy thrash wibe.
Interstellar Experience is nothing else then a long sequence of ‘’atmospheric galactic noise’’ except for the short intro made by the guitars.
Baka,
Resolution 588 and
A Message To Survive would be some of the more intensive songs with less catchy structures, these are the songs I enjoy the least.
Personally I have no bigger problems regarding the album, its songs, its overall sound or vocals but I will still mention a few things that might be worth knowing before you decide to check out this album. I’m pretty sure that there are a few things that will bug people, since I like almost any kind of thrash-metal I still think that the vocals and production would be the biggest negatives for the album. The vocals are a bit similar to
John Connelly, and that will say hardcorish and yell, almost a bit like how
Schmier sounds today, except that
Gonella’s vocals sounds a bit more rusty. The production might not be an ace production, you can hear every instrument clear but the overall music sounds quite messy, the bass and the drums are pretty okay but the guitars sounds very crunchy, sharp and scratchy, this might hurt people’s ears.
Done, I liked this album pretty much, since I like thrash above all other metal genres I will not let go of the fact that I thought this was a very good thrash album, it has some negative things but that just makes the album to appear more unique, just because it isen’t perfect doesn’t have to mean that it is total garbage. I recommend this album to people who enjoy 80’s thrash-metal, and if you happen to enjoy
any kind of thrash (like me) you could give this album a chance. But, if you are looking for serious, precise and aggressive thrash-metal this album will disappoint you,
Interstellar Experience would be best described as a humorous, messy and definitely not serious thrash album.
Band Members
Robert Gonnella – vocals
Dinko Vecic – guitars
Michael Hoffman – guitars (also a former member of
Sodom)
Markus Ludwig – bass
Frank Nellen - drums
Pros
+ Very entertaining thrash-metal
+ Very catchy and crunchy thrash riffs
+ Pretty good variety among the songs
+ Very good intensity
Cons
- These vocals will irritate people
- Clear instruments but the songs sounds quite messy
- Horrible title track
- The production is far from great
Recommended Tracks
-- Abstract War
-- Junk Food
-- A.G.D
If you like 80’s thrash-metal and don’t have problems regarding sound quality and such you would possibly enjoy this album, the final rating will be a strong 3/5
